1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved shoe lacing system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Shoelaces have been used to secure shoes and boots for several thousand years. Although early shoelaces were made of leather, most shoelaces today are made of a cloth material, such as cotton. The conventional method of using shoelaces involves initially threading the shoelace through alternating eyelets until a pair of shoelace ends extend freely from the last eyelets. The user inserts his or her foot in the shoe or boot, and the shoelace ends are pulled to tighten the shoe around the foot. Typically, the pair of shoelace ends is tied in a bow to secure the shoelace. Of course, the same procedure must be done for each of a pair of shoes.
Although shoes and booting using traditional shoe lacing are still widely used, there are several shortcomings. One of the most frequent difficulties is that often shoelaces can become untied which can present a tripping hazard particularly when the user is unaware his or her shoelaces are untied. Additional problems with traditional shoe lacing include the time it takes a user to tie the shoes and the fact that the shoelace ends can become unraveled. Although the ends of shoelaces are typically encased with a plastic tip called an aglet, the aglet can break fairly easily. Once an aglet breaks, the shoelace end becomes unraveled and it becomes difficult to thread the shoelace back through the eyelets.